Recap: Hearts & Homes Successfully Launches Summer Camp for Refugees

Volunteers from Rye Country Day and Students for Refugees (SFR) work with our young new neighbors from across the globe at two HHR summer camp sessions in Yonkers and New Rochelle.

This summer, Hearts & Homes for Refugees (HHR) successfully launched two summer camps for refugee children recently resettled in the Lower Hudson Valley. Taking place in Yonkers and New Rochelle over three weeks, and led by high school volunteers, the summer camps  brought together children that have been out of school and have not been surrounded by other children their age for an extended period of time. 

“You can just see it in the kid’s eyes when they are inspired and excited by older student volunteers,” said Amy Robertson, HHR’s Program Director. “It’s a great example of how our volunteers are continuously making a difference in the lives of our new neighbors.” 

Students for Refugees is an HHR initiative that teaches and mobilizes high schoolers to volunteer for refugees in New York. Olivia Naporano, a Harrison High School student and active participant, coordinated the first camp in early July, a week-long session for 10 children of Afghan refugee families. Hosted at the Yonkers Public Library, the camp consisted of a mix of social activities and tutorings. All week, the kids received one-on-one attention from different volunteers. 

At the end of the week, one of the young students begged, “The library school was so fun but it was just only one week, can we go next week too please?” 

Students from Rye Country Day school were happy to oblige. With help from HHR, Ronald Feng, Jordan Zhao, Casey Wu, and Jaymin Ding launched a second, two-week long session in late August at the New Rochelle Public Library. The timings of the camps were also designed to work around the summer camp programming offered by local public schools. 

The student leaders of the camp said their favorite moments from the camp came during their daily soccer games on the fields. “Watching them come together as a whole unit to play soccer was truly remarkable,” said Feng. “It highlighted the power of sports in bringing people together, fostering teamwork, and building friendships.”

Taeko Fueno, a junior at Rye Country Day, who volunteered at the New Rochelle camp, said it wasn’t just the kids who were learning.

“This opportunity helped to open my eyes to different situations in our world today and I felt really happy when their faces would light up after asking whether we would come the next day,” said Fueno. “I’m proud of their courage and growth while watching them become more confident in themselves.”

Program Director Amy Robertson and Harrison High School student Olivia Naporano, who led the Yonkers session, pose with summer camp attendees after a busy morning session.

After the camp wrapped up, the New Rochelle Public Library highlighted the activity on their social media and wrote, “[We were] delighted to provide space that was appropriate for the children and volunteer teen tutors to work (and take quiet breaks too!). Kudos to the RCD teen volunteers, and Hearts & Homes for Refugees, for their work welcoming and assisting the newest members of our community."

After a successful first summer, the students look forward to expanding the program next summer. In a recent LoHud article highlighting the summer camps, Naporano said she hopes the camp will have up to 30-50 children next summer, and include refugees from other parts of the world such as Ukraine or South America.

“I don’t want this to be a solely one or two year program,” Naporano said to LoHud. “I want to expand it, extend it after I graduate high school, so other people can take it upon themselves to extend the program and make it a long-lasting thing for many years to come."

Hearts & Homes is looking forward to working with volunteers in its Students for Refugees chapters to make this dream a reality.